Olympic24: Swift happy with return from injury at RideLondon

03 August 2015 / 07:13

Ben Swift makes a successful return from injury on the course that staged the Olympic road race at London 2012 while there are medals for Tom Daley and James Guy at the aquatics World Championships in Russia. Here's our review of the last 24 hours:

Ben Swift happy with third in RideLondon-Surrey Classic

Bobby Crutchley finalises European squad after three matches in Hamburg

Swift back from three month break with podium place

Ben Swift returned from injury to take third in a sprint finish at the RideLondon-Surrey Classic.

Swift was edged on the line by Jean-Pierre Drucker and Mike Teunissen but had no complaints following a difficult year, which saw him break his shoulder during the Tour of Yorkshire.

“I had to go really hard in the last few kilometres and I started to cramp up a little bit from the effort of chasing,” said Swift. “Even though I’d have loved to have won, I’m really, really happy.

“I had three months out of competition so this is a really nice way to come back to racing and get a good result straight away. It was good to be on the podium.

“I couldn’t see any metres-to-go boards so I got caught on the front, trying to get the others to come round me, but you could see the guys coming from behind so you couldn’t play too much cat-and-mouse.”

Erick Rowsell, brother of Olympic gold medallist Joanna, claimed the King of the Mountains title while fellow British rider Peter Williams took the sprints classification.

After Spain win, Crutchley to assess his European squad

Bobby Crutchley insists his side are on track for the hockey European Championships following a mixed weekend of results in Hamburg.

After a draw with Belgium and a narrow defeat to the hosts, two goals from Sam Ward helped England to come from behind to finish the Ergo Hamburg Masters with a 3-2 win over Spain.

Crutchley’s side trailed twice to strikes from Marc Salles and Alex Casasayas but Ward and then Ashley Jackson levelled the match before the Holcombe striker struck the winner three minutes from time.

"The tournament overall has been perfect for us," said Crutchley.

"It’s very good quality opposition and three high quality games, which leading into the Unibet EuroHockey Championships is exactly what we want.

"We’ve had a chance to look at some players and we have some tough decisions to make as we name the squad for the tournament.

"With the information we have on the group and the depth of quality we’re starting to show, I’m confident we’ll make the right selection decisions.”

Daley claims another world medal but wants an Olympic upgrade

Tom Daley recovered from a shaky start to claim his second medal at diving World Championships in Kazan.

Daley, who won the mixed team title with Rebecca Gallantree earlier in the week, returned to the podium in his specialty 10m platform event with a bronze, six years after he won the world title in Rome.

It means Great Britain finished the championships with four medals - their most successful return, following bronzes for Jack Laugher and Chris Mears in the 3m synchro and Laugher in the individual 3m springboard.

"It's interesting to see the same three people on the podium today as at London 2012. It looks like we've still got it and we just need to shuffle around for next year and hopefully I can end up on top," said Daley.

Rio test event proves successful for British women

Non Stanford is certainly made of strong stuff as she proved in Rio - putting a nightmare two years behind her at the Olympic triathlon test event.

Former world champion Stanford claimed her second place in the women's race was a major confidence boost while Vicky Holland took third as British triathletes underlined their Olympic ambitions in style.

They now both need podium finishes at the World Triathlon Series event in Chicago to book their Rio tickets.

"It's boosted my confidence after a tough couple of years," said Stanford.

However, there was disappointment for Olympic champion Alistair Brownlee, who jogged across the line in tenth as rival Javier Gomez dominated the men's race.